Archive for May, 2016

From R3M Productions, in association with Grodnik/Aloe Productions, and producers Dan Grodnik and Mary Aloe, present a taste of TIGER directed by Aussie Alister Grierson (Sanctum). The movie stars Golden Globe Winner and Academy Award nominee Mickey Rourke and Prem Singh in the title role. As well Jenal Parrish (Pretty Little Liars) in the female leading role. The Exchange, our foreign sales team, is on the ground at Cannes for our international distributors. Personally, I have had an affinity for Indian-based films (ie. SLUM DOG MILLIONAIRE, BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL I and II, and THE LUNCHBOX), so when the screenplay, PUNJAB TIGER, was brought to us with such relevant topics like racial profiling and standing up for one’s beliefs, we seized the opportunity to produce this important biopic on boxer, Pardeep Nagra. The story is one of pure faith in the boxing ring – to the courtroom.

MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS features interwoven stories about what it means to be a mom, which are tied together via single gal Rigby Gray, a rock photographer who’s riding a career high when an unlikely and unexpected pregnancy forces her to turn her lens inward. As Rigby slowly comes to terms with what it might mean to change her life forever, she discovers with fresh eyes her own relationship with her estranged mother. Through a series of photographs documenting motherhood in all its varieties, she considers what it means to be maternal at all. Director Paul Duddridge’s film is a celebration of the unparalleled love between mothers and their children and the myriad ways they connect in today’s modern world.

Selma Blair plays a rock photographer who is riding a career high when an unlikely and unexpected pregnancy forces her to turn her lens inward. As she slowly comes to terms with what it might mean to change her life forever, she discovers with fresh eyes her own relationship with her estranged mother. Courteney Cox, Christina Ricci, Susan Sarandon, Mira Sorvino and Sharon Stone also star. (PG-13 – 90 minutes)

So long as you go in understanding that “Mothers and Daughters” is more a series of insightful dialogues than it is a conventional narrative, you are likely to emerge satisfied and perhaps even a little emotionally enlightened. The thing that makes director Paul Duddridge’s new ensemble drama work is its exceptionally talented cast. Viewers become genuinely invested in each of these women’s stories because the sincerity of the actresses’ performances. Having said that, some viewers may become frustrated, finding the back-and-forth between the characters to be a bit on the monotonous side. (3 Stars)

Mothers and Daughters

By Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

SPIRITUALITY AND PRACTICE

May 5, 2016

A lightly entertaining portrait of different types of mother-daughter relationships.

“Mothers come in all shapes and sizes, sometimes there for just a moment and sometimes they remain for a lifetime,” says Rigby Gray, a rock photographer in this mildly insightful series of interconnected stories about motherhood. She is really accelerating in her career when she discovers that she is pregnant. Upon hearing this surprising news, she asks her doctor: “How long do I have?” The doctor laughs and responds: “It’s not a death sentence.”

As Rigby tries to decide whether or not she wants to have this child, she draws closer to her own mother from whom she has been estranged for a long time. Meanwhile, other mothers and daughters are struggling with their own set of challenges. One mother is getting ready to meet the daughter she gave up for adoption; another is trying to comprehend why her Princeton-educated daughter is working in a low-paying service job. One is baffled by the news that her sister in not exactly the person she thought she was, and yet another is still siphoning cash off her mother and not introducing her to her boyfriend.

No one matters more to us than Mom and there is no one we can at the same time want everything and nothing from. We need their unconditional love and approval. We need them to always be glad to see us, always comfort us when we hurt. But we also need to feel that we can do without her, be independent. And then we don’t want to.

Last week’s awful “Mother’s Day” attempted to mine this material. This week, “Mothers and Daughters” does a better job. It still falls into the trap of putting the story in New York City but having all of the characters white and having them keep running into each other and resolving everything too neatly. But it avoids the sit-com vibe and intrusive product placement and has some understated and affecting moments.

In one of the movie’s highlights, Susan Sarandon appears with her real-life daughter, Eva Amurri Martino, who plays Gayle, a woman who is estranged from her family. She insisted on living with her boyfriend, who wants to start a high-end bakery and is sure he will get the loan he needs. But Gayle is getting nervous about the money he is spending and determined not to ask her parents to help them.

Selma Blair plays Rigby, a photographer whose married boyfriend has just — kindly — broken up with her to return to his wife. She is offered her dream job, accompanying a rock star on tour as his official photographer, when she discovers she is pregnant. “How long do I have?” she asks her doctor (“The Blind Side’s” Quinton Aaron). He smiles and tells her it’s a baby, not a terminal disease. She makes an appointment for an abortion, certain that she does not have it in her to care for a child, especially because she feels guilty about not doing more for her own mother, who is in a nursing home.

[Trailer]

Sharon Stone is Nina, a fashion mogul whose daughter has dropped out of a prestigious internship and won’t tell her what she is doing instead. Mira Sorvino is Georgina, whose new line of bras is launching, and who has a secret she has not told her very supportive boyfriend. And Courteney Cox is Beth, a wife and mother of a teenage son. Her own mother has just died, leading to the revelation of a family secret that has caused great anger and pain.

There is a quiet sincerity to the film that makes up for some slickness in the screenplay, with its overly convenient twists and rapid progress toward hugs and forgiveness.

Parents should know that this film has mature material including sexual references and discussions of family secrets. There is some alcohol and brief drug use.

Family discussion: Which family had the most difficult problem? Why did Rigby change her mind?

“Mothers and Daughters” is full of recognizable stars and heartfelt conversations. Unfortunately, it’s largely devoid of the kind of character development that can give such conversations real impact.

The movie — directed by Paul Duddridge and released, of course, just in time for Mother’s Day weekend — works an intersecting-stories structure as it follows several mother-daughter pairs through tensions, tears and reconciliations. The cast includes Susan Sarandon, Sharon Stone, Courteney Cox, Mira Sorvino, Christina Ricci and Eva Amurri Martino (Ms. Sarandon’s real daughter), and they are tasked with cutting right to the chase. Having multiple plotlines eats time, and, as a result, Paige Cameron, the screenwriter, doesn’t really lay much of a foundation for any of these relationships; instead, we’ve barely registered who’s who before we are plunged into the heart-to-hearts.

Subtlety is not on the agenda here, either; these are big-moment stories that involve pregnancies, revelations about who is whose biological parent, and so on. The dialogue — much of it delivered via video conference calls, for some reason — is the kind of Lifetime movie stuff that will probably strike a chord with mothers and daughters who have had similar conversations or wish they had.

“When you were born, and I saw you, I didn’t know that I could ever need anything that badly, that I could ever love anything that much,” Ms. Sarandon’s character tells her daughter. But what kind of relationship led to such earnest soul-baring? We’re left to imagine. NEIL GENZLINGER